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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23217961">Breathe</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ampithoe/pseuds/Ampithoe'>Ampithoe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A Milder March, Gen, Massage, Post-Book 2: Wayward Son, Relaxation, Seriously are Simon and Baz even in the room because we totally can't tell from this Shep POV, Shep is watching Penny</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:48:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>536</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23217961</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ampithoe/pseuds/Ampithoe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Penny is pacing and Shep is trying to help.  Based on the "Massage" prompt from A Milder March.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Penelope Bunce &amp; Shepard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Breathe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shepard</p><p>Penny is pacing.  And pacing.  And pacing.  It is amazing to me how intensely, how fiercely, she can pace in the narrow strip of space between the row of chairs and the wall in the boarding area.  Her hair is bouncing, she's muttering under her breath, she's clenching her purple gem so tightly that MY hands hurt.  </p><p>The flight doesn't board for an hour but the area is already full.  I have no idea why so many people are flying to London from San Diego tonight.  They can't all be responding to a crisis at Watford.  Can they?  I don't actually know how big Watford is, or where it is, or really anything beyond its being the alma mater of all three of these Speakers.  Or magicians, I guess they call themselves.</p><p>Right now we're on standby for the flight.  Penny is looking at the monitor every time she gets to the right hand end of the little track she's pacing – it's the only spot she can see it from, and she's craning her neck to do it.  Every time she looks at it, she mutters under her breath.  I'm not sure whether she's casting a spell to try to move us up the list, or just muttering.</p><p>“Penny, could you sit down for a minute?” I say.</p><p>“I can sit on the plane.  If I can get on the plane.  We need to get home, we need to find out what is going on, I need to help my mom!”</p><p>“Your mom?  I thought we were going to Watford?”</p><p>“We are!  She's the headmistress.”  Oh.  I didn't know that.  That's how distracted Penny is – she's giving me information about the magical world.</p><p>“Humor me.  Just sit down for two minutes, one hundred and twenty seconds.  If you still want to pace after that, I won't say another word.”  I don't know if I can make a dent in her tension in two minutes, but I also think that if I ask for longer she won't sit down at all.  “Here, in front of me.  Please.”  I try to put some ease, some sense of relaxation into my voice, and maybe it works, because she does sit, to my astonishment.</p><p>“Fine!  Two minutes.”</p><p>How can I help this beautiful, determined woman calm down?  I think about some lessons I had from a Lenni Lenape shaman.  I set my hands on her shoulders, gently, pushing into firmness as slowly as I can while still getting there in two minutes.  </p><p>“Your shoulders are tight.  You're carrying so much tension.”</p><p>“Of course I am!  We need to DO something!”</p><p>“And we are doing something.  We're traveling.  We're waiting.  We're sitting.  Breathe with me.”</p><p>“Shepard!”</p><p>“Breathe with me.”</p><p>I push slowly with my right hand, then ease off and push with my left.  She huffs out a sigh and then pulls in a slightly deepened breath.  I let my breath whistle a little so she can hear it, timing it with the movement of my hands and arms, trying to cue her to a new rhythm.  The two minutes must be up now, but she isn't springing up.  She lets her head fall back a bit, and we breathe.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know the magickal world spells itself with a K, but I figure Shepard would spell it the Normal way.</p><p>The Lenni Lenape are a Native American people whose territory once included the area of Pennsylvania where I grew up.   I didn't want to have my shaman be from an obvious group like the Hopi or Nepalese people.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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